Report: Sidney Crosby has sports hernia, considering surgery

Sidney Crosby got hurt on Saturday night and since then updates from the Penguins haven’t been substantial. NHL teams don’t have to be very specific when it comes to detailing the injury and coach Mike Sullivan has chosen to do that, mainly dodging all questions about what Crosby hurt and how long he may be out. Just yesterday Sullivan danced around confirming or denying whether or not Crosby would or wouldn’t play the Pens’ next game on Friday night.

But according to a report from The Athletic’s Rob Rossi, it’s looking like Crosby could be out significantly longer (4-6 weeks) due to a sports hernia.

Sidney Crosby is evaluating all treatment options for a sports hernia, multiple NHL and Penguins sources confirmed to The Athletic.

Crosby aggravated the sports hernia Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena, but sources say the Penguins captain has been dealing with the injury since training camp. He opted against surgery when the Penguins lost multiple forwards, including Evgeni Malkin, to various injuries early in October.

Crosby is now weighing the opinions of medical personnel whether he should undergo surgery, which would typically require a 4-6 week recovery, the sources said.

Another option for Crosby would be a steroid injection and physical therapy, which could possibly allow him to delay surgery until the offseason, the sources said. The potential issue with that option, though, is that Crosby could again aggravate the sports hernia and ultimately need in-season surgery at a later date.

Crosby met with a specialist in Philadelphia then traveled to meet the Penguins before their 3-2 overtime loss Tuesday to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Penguins plan to update Crosby’s status once he makes a decision regarding the surgery, the sources said.

A lot to digest there, and Rossi would go onto say the team would prefer Crosby would take care of the surgery now and be able to come back at full strength for the latter half of the season, instead of managing the pain and trying to cobble through the entire rest of the year, which makes a lot of sense. Although painful, probably better to deal with the issue still relatively early in the year and probably be back by Christmas (which is six weeks to the day from today!) than risk having the hernia become too much of an issue in February or March when the playoffs are getting close.

We’ll see if this report encourages Sullivan to add any further detail about Crosby’s status or if they have anything further to confirm about how long their captain will be out. As of now though, it looks like we might not be seeing No. 87 on the ice again for a stretch of over a month.